Special Projects in Psychology allows students to pursue a topic of special interest in more
detail than is permitted within the standard psychology curriculum. The course is
primarily intended for Athabasca University students who are in the final stages
of a Bachelor of Arts program with a major in psychology. In exceptional
circumstances, other students may also be permitted to take this course with
permission of the professor.

Students registered in this course are required to conduct an independent
empirical or conceptual research project. At the outset, students will select a
topic and write a set of project objectives in consultation with their tutor.
Students will then engage in activities to attain the objectives. Finally, students
will submit the results of their work with a statement detailing how they have
accomplished the objectives.

Students taking this course are expected to demonstrate the ability to work
independently and should not expect significant help from their tutor except for
approval and evaluation of the accomplishment of the objectives.

Psychology 418 is primarily intended for students in the final stages of
obtaining a psychology major from Athabasca University. However, under special
circumstances other students may also take the course. The only formal
prerequisites for Psychology 418 are a course in psychological research methods
(equivalent to Athabasca University's Social Science 366) and permission of a
psychology professor.

Psychology 418 is configured very differently than other Athabasca University
courses. First, Psychology 418 is a flexible course that enables students to
pursue topics of special interest in greater detail than is possible in AU's standard
course offerings. Students take a more active role in their learning by taking
responsibility for the specification of course content and pedagogical activities.
This entails considerable work, but offers the potential for developing knowledge
and skills in a specialized area of psychology.

Second, there are no course materials other than this web page, which is also
available in the form of a printed Student Manual. Third, in Psychology 418,
students are not given extensive learning assistance of the sort that normally
appears in Athabasca University study guides. Fourth, students are expected to
work largely independently without the more extensive telephone-tutor support
that is normally provided in most Athabasca University courses. Finally, students
are responsible for writing their own course objectives and submitting these for
approval to their supervisor.

This page informs you about the course materials and structure, evaluation and
grading procedures, and other items regarding the course.

The only material for Psychology 418 that every student will use is the
information you are currently reading. In this course, students are expected to
make considerable use of materials such as textbooks, chapters in edited books,
reviews of research, and original research in journal articles. The Athabasca
University Library can be of considerable help to students seeking appropriate
materials and will help students conduct literature searches. However, in order to
have better access to a full range of suitable books and journals, students are
encouraged to visit a larger-scale academic library such as the University of Alberta
Library, the University of Calgary Library, or the
University of Lethbridge Library.

The internet can provide a wealth of information for Psychology 418 projects,
and our Athabasca
University Psychology Resources is a good place to begin your search if your topic area is in
psychology. If your topic area verges into the field of education, try
Galaxy
Education as a starting point.

The structure of Psychology 418 is based on a set of student-written course
objectives. An objective is a statement of a goal that specifies (a) an specific
activity or behavior that is to occur; (b) the stimulus conditions or context in
which the activity is to occur; and (c) a criterion or criteria for determining
whether the activity has occurred. A well-written objective is a very precise
statement that leaves no doubt about what is expected.

In preparing the course objectives students are encouraged to consult a book
concerned with writing objectives. Examples include Robert Mager's Preparing
Instructional Objectives and Julie Vargas' Writing Worthwhile Behavioral
Objectives . Each of these books is available through the Athabasca
University Library. More about writing good objectives is provided in the
following section.

After students have prepared their objectives, they submit them to their
supervisor for approval. The supervisor may ask that the student rewrite and
resubmit the objectives. Once the objectives are approved, the student may then
engage in those activities necessary to meet the objectives.

Once students feel they have engaged in the activities that meet the objectives,
they will then resubmit the approved objectives to the supervisor together with a
statement explaining how they have attained each objective. Aside from this
statement, students will also normally submit materials to support their claims.
For instance, an essay, a research report, a literature review, a set of teaching
materials, and a description of a set of practicum activities (endorsed by a
practicum supervisor) are all examples of such supportive materials.

After students have submitted their objectives the supervisor will grade the
work. In some cases students may be asked to engage in additional activities in
order to meet the objectives.
The student's work will be graded based on the degree to which the supervisor
feels the course objectives have been met.

As discussed above, a good objective should be one that clearly specifies (a) an
activity or behavior to be performed; (b) the stimulus conditions under which the
behavior is to take place; and (c) a criterion or criteria for determining whether
the activity has occurred. Let us look at some examples of poor and good
objectives. Consider the following objective:

I will write an essay about prompting and fading.

This is a poor objective. Although it specifies some writing activity is to take
place, we do not know how much. Further, we do not know which specific topics or
questions concerning prompting and fading the essay will address, and we have no
criterion for determining whether the behavior has occurred or not. The following
set of objectives is an improvement:

I will write an 15,000 word essay about the use of prompting and fading
procedures in programmed instruction for adult students. This essay will include:

1. A partial review of the literature on this topic. This will
include:

1.1. A short description of the content of each paper.

1.2. A classification of the papers into empirical and theoretical
domains and into more specialized sub-topics as necessary.

1.3. An short evaluation of each paper in which I will describe what the
paper contributed to knowledge of this field.

1.4. A longer description of the research methodology and/or theoretical
implications and advances of five to ten papers I judge to have
special empirical or conceptual importance.

2. A discussion of operant and classical conditioning interpretations of
the prompting and fading process as it occurs in adult students. This
discussion will include:

2.1. A diagram of the two conditioning paradigms and an explanation of
each conditioning processes.

2.2. An evaluation of applicability of the two paradigms to the
prompting and fading procedures used in programmed instruction for adult
students. If neither paradigm is judged applicable then I may propose an
alternative interpretation.

3. A discussion of the future of prompting and fading procedures and
particularly their use in computer-assisted instruction.

4. The essay will follow the format of the American
Psychological Association Publication Manual. The essay will
also embody the principles of writing specified in the manual.

Students in Psychology 418 are supervised by a psychology professor
or a well-qualified individual designated by Athabasca University's
Psychology Centre. The role of the supervisor in Psychology 418 is
very different from that of a tutor in most other Athabasca University
courses. The normal expectation of a tutor is that he or she be
available for several hours at least once a week for student
consultation. However, in this Special Projects course, students are
expected to work largely on their own, with the professor's main
responsibilities being the approval of the student's objectives and
final assessment of the student's work.

Faculty are available to Psychology 418 students by phone or by
e-mail. Use of e-mail is generally encouraged, but students should
check with their supervisor to determine whether all assignments may
be submitted by e-mail. Unless informed otherwise, students should
submit their e-mail assignments as ASCII files, following the
guidelines in the American Psychological Association Publication
Manual (4th ed.), Appendix C. A list of APA Publication Manual
frequently asked questions is available on the world-wide-web, as
is an APA
Publication Manual Crib Sheet, a concise guide to the manual.

See faculty page for potential
supervisors and their research interests.